Bill Clinton’s Portrait Includes Symbolic Nod to Lewinsky Affair

Haraz N. Ghanbari—APFormer President Bill Clinton gestures after the portraits of his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton and him, were revealed on April 24, 2006, at the Smithsonian Castle Building in Washington, D.C.

The artist who created the portrait of President Clinton that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery admitted he sneaked a subtle reference to the Lewinsky scandal into the background of the painting. The shadow is "a metaphor in that it represents a shadow on the office he held"

The artist who created the portrait of President Bill Clinton that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery has admitted he sneaked a subtle reference to the Lewinsky scandal into the background of the painting.

Painter Nelson Shanks told the Philadelphia Daily News on Friday that a shadow in the 2006 painting, which can be seen falling on the mantle of the Oval Office fireplace, was more than it appeared:

“It actually literally represents a shadow from a blue dress that I had on a mannequin, that I had there while I was painting it, but not when he was there,” Shanks said. “It is also a bit of a metaphor in that it represents a shadow on the office he held, or on him.”

Shanks claimed that the Clintons “hate” the painting and have lobbied for its removal from the National Portrait Gallery, a claim the museum’s spokesperson denied.

Joel Ryan—Invision/APActress Emma Thompson arrives for the British Independent Film Awards at Old Billingsgate Market in central London, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014.

Thompson's husband Greg Wise said the couple are "not paying a penny more until those evil bastards go to prison"

Two-time Academy Award–winning actress Emma Thompson may refuse to pay taxes until those implicated in the HSBC tax evasion scandal go to prison, according her husband Greg Wise.

“I am disgusted with [the HM Revenue and Customs]. I am disgusted with HSBC. And I’m not paying a penny more until those evil bastards go to prison,” Wise told the Evening Standard in an interview this week.

And Wise made it clear that Thompson was fully supportive of the proposed boycott. “Em’s on board. She agrees. We’re going to get a load of us together. A movement,” he added.

The acting couple’s disgust stems from a decision by the U.K. customs department to not prosecute anyone after leaks detailed misconduct in HSBC’s Swiss subsidiary, including helping chief executive Stuart Gulliver shelter over $7 million in a Swiss account away from the taxman’s gaze.

Thompson is an iconic British actress who won two Best Actress Oscars, first in 1992 for her role in the movie Howard’s End, and in 1995 for Sense and Sensibility. She has been nominated for three other Academy Awards.

The media giant has been at the center of a phone-hacking scandal in the U.K.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. will not be prosecuted in the U.S. over allegations of corruption.

Officials were investigating whether News Corp., a U.S. company that controls entities such as the Wall Street Journal and Fox News, broke anti-bribery laws over alleged payments to British police by journalists, the BBC reports.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement Monday that it was ending its “investigation into News Corp. regarding possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act concerning bribes allegedly paid for news leads.”

The media giant has been embroiled in a hacking scandal in the U.K., which caused its Sunday tabloid the News of the World to cease operations in 2011.

Several of the paper’s journalists have been prosecuted in the U.K. over the tapping of phones of public and private figures and illicit payments to officials.

If new information comes to light, the Department of Justice says it can reopen the inquiry.

The Story Behind Bill Clinton’s Infamous Denial

It was on this day in 1998 that President Bill Clinton (as seen around 6:18 in the video above) uttered 11 words that would go down in history: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky.”

While Starr was trying to make his case, Clinton’s job last week was to persuade the American people to reserve judgment, let the investigation proceed and bear with the Great Explainer’s refusal to explain much of anything. So after days of watery nondenials and rumors of resignation, last Monday Clinton finally gave voters who wanted to believe in him an excuse to do so. In the Roosevelt Room of the White House Monday morning, with Hillary beside him, he stared into the camera and narrowed his eyes. “I want you to listen to me,” he said. “I didnothavesexualrelations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time, never.”

It was an enormous gamble, the result of a fierce White House battle. While Clinton had for days been urged by adviser Mickey Kantor and others to toughen his denial, the Monday morning statement was finally worked out in a post-midnight strategy session with former deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes and Hollywood imagineer Harry Thomason. Ickes, the street-smart infighter who had steered Clinton’s re-election campaign only to be bumped out of a second-term job, flew in from California and went straight to the White House. Ickes’ prescription for the President: Look the people straight in the eye and, to the extent you and your lawyer are confident, say, “I didn’t do it.” Only a loud, unambiguous denial would “stanch the wound,” Ickes said. Thomason, meanwhile, helped the President rehearse the stern, reproving body language, according to a source familiar with the meeting.

It was the first of several turning points, and it worked. That afternoon, when Hillary arrived in Harlem to visit an after-school program, the crowd was jeering reporters, chanting, “Leave Bill alone!”

Here Are 6 Congressional Leaders Who Resigned Over Scandals

A member of the House Republican leadership is facing controversy over having addressed a conference of white supremacists in 2002. But Rep. Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip, is not the first congressional leader to face a scandal. Here’s a look at six lawmakers who ended up resigning over scandals.

The Group Behind Kony 2012 Is Shutting Down Most Operations

STRINGER—AFP/Getty ImagesThis picture, made available 24 May 2006 by the Monitor media group in Kampala, Uganda, shows one of the world's most wanted rebel chiefs, Joseph Kony of the Lord Resistance Movement.

"Despite making incredible progress toward our mission, it’s been difficult to fund the breadth of our work, especially over the last two years"

The non-profit that helped mobilize the international community against a brutal African warlord–or misrepresented and oversimplified a complex issue, depending on your point of view–says it’s packing up.

Invisible Children, founded in 2004 to raise awareness about Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army in central Africa, announced on Monday that it is winding down its U.S. operations and will cut most of its 21-person staff.

In a statement posted to its website, Invisible Children cited a drop in Kony’s influence–though he still leads several hundred fighters–but also indicated it was having trouble fundraising.

“Despite making incredible progress toward our mission, it’s been difficult to fund the breadth of our work, especially over the last two years,” the group said.

In 2012, Invisible Children released an emotional film about Kony that catapulted the organization onto the international stage thanks to the film’s viral effectiveness–and the subsequent criticism of its portrayal of the conflict and the resulting “hashtag activism.”

The film, Kony 2012, was viewed more than 100 million times in less than a week and was called at the time the most viral video in history. It was credited with helping to prompt the U.S. to back an African Union military force charged with hunting down Kony.

But it also faced widespread criticism for its simplistic tone and for exaggerating the threat posed by the LRA, at the expense of other health and social issues. While the LRA had forced thousands of children to become child soldiers over the previous two decades, by the the time the film was released, Kony had been expelled from Uganda and led only a few hundred followers.

The film’s backlash appeared to have hurt the NGO’s fundraising efforts: while Invisible Children raised $26.5 million in 2012, nearly as much as it had raised in the previous three years combined, it collected $4.9 million in 2013, according to its financial reports.

This Company Drove Baby Name Trends in 2014

Karwai Tang—WireImageJason Biggs, Taylor Schilling and Laura Prepon attend a photocall to launch season 2 of the Netflix exclusive series "Orange Is The New Black" at Soho Hotel on May 29, 2014 in London, England.

Pornstache has yet to crack the list, thankfully

A close look at BabyCenter’s top baby names of 2014 doesn’t suggest anything out of the ordinary. Anyone who’s walked past a gaggle of nursery schoolers wouldn’t be surprised to see names like Sophia, Olivia, Liam and Aiden topping the lists. But dig a little deeper and you will find that for as much as parents-to-be weigh factors like honoring family names and improving junior’s chances for an Ivy League diploma, Netflix is as big an influence as anything. Yes, Netflix.

Parents looked past the crimes of Litchfield Correctional Facility’s inmates and instead reaffirmed the humanity of Orange Is the New Black’s characters. Galina, better known as Red, rose 67 percent in popularity, while Piper cracked the top 100 names for girls. Nicky, Alex, Dayanara and even the ever-unpopular Larry enjoyed a greater share of this year’s baby name pie.

House of Cards held sway in baby nurseries as well, despite the unsavory motivations that drive so many of its characters. Frank, Remy and Zoe all jumped between 10 and 20 percent from the previous year.

The influence of popular culture on name trends extends, of course, beyond Netflix. In a nod to two of 2014’s other major cultural phenomena — Frozen and Shonda Rhimes — Elsa and Hans saw a healthy boost, Olivia kept her top three spot and a handful of names from Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder made their way onto more birth certificates.

Judging by Netflix’s upcoming offerings, 2015 might just be the year of Marco Polo.

Viola Davis Is Creating a Show About Detroit’s First Female Prosecutor

Christopher Polk—Getty ImagesABC's 'How to Get Away with Murder' actress Viola Davis poses for a portrait during ABC's 2014 TCA summer press tour at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 15, 2014 in Beverly Hills.

Kym Worthy has been called 'the toughest woman in Detroit'

Viola Davis, who plays defense attorney Annalise Keating on ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder, is trying her hand at exploring the other side of the courtroom. She’s producing a new ABC drama inspired by Kym Worthy, the badass Detroit prosecutor who has led the charge to investigate the city’s 11,000 backlogged rape kits. (Read more about her quest to revive cold cases here.)

Worthy, who has been called the toughest woman in Detroit, is known for prosecuting former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick for obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and perjury, which led to his resignation from office (along with other high-profile scandals.) A sexual assault survivor herself, she’s also revamped the way her office handles rape cases, pioneering a “victim-centered” approach that puts the emphasis on catching rapists rather than questioning victims.

Viola and her producing partner Julius Tennon will be joined by Debra Martin Chase (Sparkle) to create the new drama Conviction, which will be written by Jason Wilborn (Damages), Deadlinereports. Worthy is on board as a consultant.

Speaking to People, Therese Serignese, 57, claims that when she was 19 years old, Cosby pressured her into taking Quaaludes and engaging in sexual activity after his show in Las Vegas. Serignese also said she provided a supporting deposition in a civil suit back in 2006 that was brought by another accuser and settled out of court.

Since 2005, more than a dozen women have accused Cosby of drugging or sexually abusing them. The allegations — which have not led to criminal charges — have recently garnered increased attention and prompted NBC to drop a planned Cosby sitcom and Netflix to postpone his comedy special.